Calling all Alaska Residents!!!

[dfanonymous]

I feel like the crime is more to do with the per capita situation due to the lower population than say a state in the lower 48 with a major city.

When comparing to the national average.

I could be wrong though. Anchorage might be worst than Detroit for all I know.

 

[comfisherman]

Alaska is a unique place, and it's demographic has changed relatively quickly. When I was a kid the state ram on oil and gas, had robust mining, a thriving timber industry, a relatively consistent fishery and a growing sport and tourism industry. Fast forward towards today and the oil and gas is a super lean version of what it was.. the largess of the early 2000s boom is replaced by the extreme efficiency of today's outfits.

Coals gone, mining slowed the forest a mere shell of itself and the fishing industry is like farming but without the ag subsidy... abysmal. Honestly tourism is a dime replacement for the dollar that real industry was. It helps but not in a big way.

Alaksa has been kept afloat from the extreme largess of deficit spending, the houses occupied by folks working high paying industry jobs now worke for the state federal and native corporations (fed funded as well).

I've lived all over south central and we've lost a lot of private sector friends since 2015. The issue is what made us a financial juggernaut from statehood till about 10 years ago has been replaced with a state surviving off savings and federal overspend. If you have a set of skill in the areas needed there are still good jobs up here, but the actual financial situation scares me as a relative young person.

Conversly we had a decent influx of people wanting out of wherever they were from. Every time the world gets weird we get another batch of bunker diggers with money. Has definitely made the woods a bit more full, not entirely a bad thing. We've made some friends with some neat folks who went remote from tech and came up here to settle. Have hunted with friends the same basic areas, and it's way more populated than it was as a kid.


All that rambling to get to my main point, Alaska is amazing..... if you have the capacity to access it. That usually means some tools and toys to get away. When we first moved back up here we were poor recently graduated kids. State is really big and vast if you don't have the tools to play or the money to afford mobility around. We made due but it was easier to be a poor college kid in Idaho, Montana and Eastern Oregon than even relatively populous parts of Alaska. If your income allows for some toys the state is a lot more fun.

Anchorage, eagle river, palmer and wasilla are about the same as most similar sizes metro areas... all have pros and cons mainly being 2 to 6 hrs from all the cool places. Upside is central location, relatively cheap travel in and out and cost of living. We did a rotation in kenai/soldotna... really didn't care for it. Homer is awesome but has a very specific economy, I'm tied to Kodiak but don't care for the place it's just changed so much in the last 15 years and not for the better. Still there for a decent part of the year but act like a hermit when I'm there. Cordova was friendly but man does it rain. Everyone I know who went to school in Fairbanks has fond memories of it, it's more old Alaska friendly.... and cold and dark. Southeast seems awesome, still harass my living grandparents for not settling in southeast as opposed to western Alaska. Outlying areas.... would be a tough sell if you didn't have family or industry ties to the area.

Family has ties to Alaska since before statehood, my livelihood is tied to the resource. Im concerned enough about the direction the state is headed in enough I've become engaged with politicians in a way I never wanted. Long term the future of Alaska can be and should be bright, right now my guess is it's gonna be a few hard years till leadership with some vision and skills make that a reality. Hard to say if it's worth relocating here or not.

 

[comfisherman]

I feel like the crime is more to do with the per capita situation due to the lower population than say a state in the lower 48 with a major city.

When comparing to the national average.

I could be wrong though. Anchorage might be worst than Detroit for all I know.

Anchorage is weird, it's got a crime rate that's higher than Detroit per capita but absolutely isolated to very specific demographics. As such certain areas feel absolutely like Sanfancisco on ice, and other parts feel like a small town. Can live on one half of town and forget how gross it is till you drive to the other side of the highway.

 

[ihuntak]

The median home price in Wasilla and Palmer has now surpassed that of Anchorage's and is in the mid 400's. That will get you about an acre. If you have 200 acres there, you won't get that here. Most buildable land is now $50-80k an acre, more of it has a view of the water or mountains. Most of the farms are now being bought up by developers and I don't see that trend going down.
Depending on your trade, jobs are readily available on the slope but it's not necessarily the easiest to get in roads to works there.

IMO The board of game has totally screwed up the hunting and allotment of tags favoring the non-residents and guides. It's all a money game…and the mgmt is game has been atrocious. Between that and winter kill the last couple of years we've seen many of our hunting go down the tubes.

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

well must like the cold we are sitting at -47 below zero right now and have seen -70 below for many days in a row. Winter hunting some times gets hard when it is -45.but the summers are out standing warm unless it is a rainy summer. jobs have a skill and must like taxes they are high in most cities. Land and home costs are high all over Alaska. but you can hunt all year around with travel but most peoples jobs get in the way of that along with cost of doing that. I have been here 35+ years and love it have only left 2 times both time for gulf wars. Built our log cabin by hand and live in a no tax area. Anchorage has become known as Los Anchorage we will not go there any longer. If you are married make sure or wife wants to move up a lot of ladies cannot take Alaska. Good luck but think long and hard about the move

 

[Mike6158]

I work for a company that has assets in Alaska. From the slope down. I've never been there. It's come up a few times but I don't do boondoggles. Ie if I travel somewhere for work (and I do), there needs to be a business purpose for the trip. I spent my whole life traveling and the "shine" got worn off a long time ago. I always ask them if I can drive when they ask if I want to go. I suppose that I could if I wanted to but, that would just be a boondoggle.

I've pretty much sworn off of flying commercial. When I fly, I'm in the left seat Alaska seems to be general aviation friendly but that's by necessity. That's not enough of a draw to want to go. Subzero temps are unattractive to me. It got clear down to 46 deg last night. Water freezes at 50 in south TX. I'm lucky I have running water this morning!

The worst thing I read here was this "Most buildable land is now $50-80k an acre, more of it has a view of the water or mountains"

 

[FEENIX]

Anchorage is weird, it's got a crime rate that's higher than Detroit per capita but absolutely isolated to very specific demographics. As such certain areas feel absolutely like Sanfancisco on ice, and other parts feel like a small town. Can live on one half of town and forget how gross it is till you drive to the other side of the highway.

Agreed! My niece has lived there since 1980, and I visited her last August. We went to a grocery store, and most cold medicine cabinets and bathrooms were locked. Security guards also checked customers on their way out.

Like others said, I like my AK visits (my fishing trip at Seward and cruise from Vancouver to AK was fantastic), but I no longer want to live there like I used to 20+ years ago, especially at my age.

 

[Trappernewt]

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to respond so far and for all the information provided. I have read a lot and there is a fair amount of conflicting information out there so that is why I decided to ask here on the forum. Growing up on a farm and being familiar with a part of what would be required to be successful in Alaska I feel gives me a small advantage to someone just moving there from say a suburb with hunting experience. I don't pretend to know what its like to survive there on a year round basis but I am willing to learn. I think the allure of Alaska is the same for me as it is others. I spend some time in far north Saskatchewan running a February trap line so I am familiar with the cold. But also am with someone who knows how to survive that cold should something bad happen. Part of the reason for the interest in moving is my proximity to Washington DC and the Northern Virginia area that is constantly drawing people to our rural area. AirBNB's are popping up everywhere and small tracts of land are being purchased and developed around me. I don't condemn it because that would make me a hypocrite because I am wanting to relocate to someone else's rural area.... just the idea that home doesn't seem like home anymore if that makes sense.

 

[btpaine]

I lived in Montana in the late 70's and Alaska in the 80's and northern Minnesota most of my life, all these places used to be great places to live and hunt but unfortunately politics and too many people have changed everything and not for the better. Hunting has become a money game everywhere, I don't blame landowners for selling out to outfitters,they own the land and can do whatever they wish . All I can say is I'm older and happy that I got to experience the things I did before these places all changed to what they are now, sorry to sound like a downer but life was a lot more free back several decades ago.

 

[APDDSN0864]

@Trappernewt,
"…just the idea that home doesn't seem like home anymore…" is the very reason why I left Alaska when I retired from the Anchorage Police Dept and moved Outside.
My family moved to Alaska when I was 2 years old, before Statehood, and I lived in SE, the Interior, and South Central.
With the influx of people during the Pipeline era came a lot of problems that we didn't have before and it started changing the dynamics of life there.
Anchorage has been known as the most dangerous/violent city per capita in the US for years. Of course the local media and the politicians don't want to advertise that, but it's a fact.
Now that the APD is guided by "Progressive" politics it's not become any safer.
Alaska is still the most beautiful state in the country and there are many wonderful people there, but it's not Utopia.
Your family needs to be fully involved in the decision and you need to understand the issues of reduced daylight for months, the distance from family, and political realities of living in a state that is run remotely and out of sight from the public.
Know that by living in Fairbanks or Anchorage you will be competing with a lot of other people for hunting and, particularly, fishing opportunities.
I can remember when there were less than 150 people fishing the Russian River during the peak of the Red Salmon run. Those days are gone.
I hunted snowshoe hares, Spruce hens, and ptarmigan along the Knik River Road when there were no homes in the area.
When I was 12, my Dad killed his moose outside of the Anchorage city limits in Spenard where a hotel now sits.
Don't expect things to stay the same as when you arrive, and be realistic about your expectations.

Ed

 

[98s1lightning]

.... just the idea that home doesn't seem like home anymore if that makes sense

All I can say is I'm older and happy that I got to experience the things I did before these places all changed to what they are now, sorry to sound like a downer but life was a lot more free back several decades ago.

Well said

Things HAVE changed and are not going back to the way HOME was in the past

Once a rural area is built up, it aint the same place anymore

Its a **** shame the cost of living is gone so high, and it starts with how much to put a roof over your head with some land to stomp around on.......that cost has been pushed up to unobtanium heights for most people, or unreasonably bad prices/stupid to purchase

I say its OK to be down about it,
It takes a village
And if your village sucks time to go find another one,
(What I'm dealing w too)
Where like minded people are willing to stick together and help each other,
We are at a point now where $ doesn't buy help/needs and people sticking together is what its gonna take.

There's good people out there all across our nation that can see greed and are not part of/or blinded by it.

This forum is full of great, friendly, people for example; and it's an inspiration of America to me.
What we got to hold onto. Common ground.

 

[Hudge76]

I moved to Alaska 13 years ago when the Air Force stationed me here. My family and I left Anchorage and moved to the Mat-Su Valley a little over 10 years ago ago. I have seen housing almost double in Wasilla and Palmer during that time. If you insist on moving to Alaska, I'd suggest you have a job secured first. While opportunities are a lot of what you make them to be, Alaska will milk you dry if you are not prepared for it. While I like Alaska, it is not the same place it was 13 years ago. A lot has changed, and most of it not for the better. The hunting and fishing has also taken hits as well, with salmon runs falling, caribou herds falling in numbers, and so on. Not trying to discourage you at all, as I think your job skills are probably very needed here. If you are willing to work hard and make a go of it, I think you'll be successful. Just
don't come here and expect it to be the hunting and fishing paradise it was in past years.

 

[DDB TX]

I have a fair bit of time in Alaska, have staked placer claims in the Nome, Fairbanks, Central and 40 Mile back when gold was $300. Based out of Fairbanks and Nome. I also relocated 5 years ago, from central Texas (7th generation there) to 6200 feet in the Rockies, because central Texas is not what I grew up with. My town there has gone from 7000 Texans back in 2000, to 88,000, 90% non-Texans. I moved to a place which has about the same weather as Anchorage. My son has lived in Los Anchorage for about 16 years now.
I'd say this. The unrelenting winter is really hard, especially on people who are not into winter sports/ activities. If you or your family don't enjoy snowmobiling, or cross country skiing, or shoeing, or something, winter will get mighty old, not being able to do anything outside for 6 or 8 months of the year. And minus 40 is a whole new world.
Also, Anchorage is indeed just another small American city, with some bad crime areas, lots of bums, etc. With moose in your yard in winter. It is a couple of hours each way to anything fairly wild.

 

[Knight]

What about Canada? Once they get rid of what's his name. Food for thought.